A few weeks ago, I shared a story about following my intuition to leave the credit card call center on my last day of training.

The guidance was very clear, and the reward was swift.

And I realize that stories like that can make it seem easy. As if intuition is a loudspeaker you just have to turn on, and then it’s smooth sailing.

But often that’s not the case.

Intuition can be subtle, faint, and indecipherable.

It can also be shocking, disruptive, and seem to point you in the wrong direction.

And I did promise to share a story like that with you as well.

So here it is…

When I shouted “NO” to the voice

I was on what I’d call a soul quest — a 24-hour solo journey to open myself up to life’s greater guidance and intelligence.

I had spent months preparing for this moment, priming myself, and here I was at the pinnacle of it all.

I had just done a death ceremony. I was praying, drumming, chanting…

The energy just kept building. It reached this kind of crescendo.

The air felt thick.

So I stopped everything — the drumming, the chanting — and I just let go.

Then I looked around…

And I saw this tree.

It was covered in bright green moss — almost luminescent. I felt like I was in an altered state.

And then the tree said:

“Build a school.”

And my first reaction was:

“No.”

A deep, visceral no that I actually shouted out to the trees around me.

I was shocked. I resisted the message I had just received from the very field I had been trying to open myself up to.

And not just briefly — I resisted it for years.

Refusing the call

When you open yourself to guidance — what you might call the voice of soul, the intuitive field, or even “higher purpose” — it doesn’t always arrive in a way that feels calm, clear, or affirming.

Often, it’s the opposite, like it was for me. And you might feel yourself pushing back against the message.

Joseph Campbell recognized the universality of this resistance in his work on the hero’s journey, noting that transformative journeys often begin with a Refusal of the Call.

• Luke Skywalker doesn’t want to join Obi-Wan Kenobi, saying he has responsibilities to his aunt and uncle
• Neo initially refuses to take the red pill that will unveil the Matrix, because he prefers his comfortable reality
• Frodo tries to give the One Ring back to Gandalf

And I said no to the luminescent tree because building a school felt like something beyond my desire, and my ability.

But when the call is real — and the adventure is one that will pull you deeper into your evolution — it persists.

So how do you receive such transformational guidance?

Intuition is very personal — it arrives for each of us differently. And you’ll likely need to try a few different practices to amplify your own unique signal.

Here are two of my favorite ways to invite intuition:

1) Ask the Question — and Live Into It

You might sit in meditation, or simply in stillness, and ask:

Life, what do you want with me?

Or, if you have a more specific context like a stuck point or recurring emotion, you can ask:

What’s wanting to manifest here?

Michael Bernard Beckwith speaks about receiving intuitive guidance this way in his life visioning process.

No matter what question you feel called to ask, remember that your first inkling of an answer will likely be a feeling —  not a clear, fully formed sentence.

The very act of asking opens the door.

What you’re really doing is beginning a kind of conversation… one that unfolds over time.

You ask, and then you listen.

And you repeat this process again and again, deepening your availability to whatever might want to come through over time.

If you practice this consistently, you’ll start to hone your intuitive listening skills.

And, when you look back, you might just start to see a kind of golden thread of how life has been inviting you into your unique expression.

2) Shifting Your Rhythm — So Something Else Can Speak

There’s also something about where and how you’re listening. For many people, this becomes much more accessible in nature.

The rhythm of nature is slower. It draws you out of the speed of the mind, the constant input of screens and information, and into something more spacious, more receptive.

Witness without interpretation

When something does come — whether it’s a feeling, a sense, an image, a symbol, or even a word — the invitation isn’t to immediately interpret it with your mind.

You don’t have to figure it out. You can simply hold it. Stay with it.

These words from James Hillman come to mind here:

“We sin against the imagination whenever we ask an image for its meaning, requiring that images be translated into concepts.”

So let the image come to you… and then let it be, allowing it to unfold in its own time.

I’d love to hear what comes up for you as you follow these practices, if you feel called to share.

With care,
Joel